Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has slammed media reports on expenditure incurred by the state government for relief measures during the Wayanad landslides. Referring to a Kerala High Court order concerning the Wayanad landslide, it was reported that an exorbitant amount was spent on disaster relief.
The BJP and the UDF constituent, Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) targeted the state government over the reports and alleged that the Left dispensation indulged in corruption. The BJP alleged that crores of rupees were claimed by the Left government for the expenses of volunteers. The IUML, too, raised similar allegations.
However, rubbishing the charges, the Chief Minister's Office, in a statement, termed the media reports claiming that a certain amount was spent as part of relief measures' baseless. 'The state government had submitted a memorandum with the union government seeking urgent assistance in view of the disaster. In that, the expected expenses under various heads were mentioned. But the media is now spreading that document as the amount spent by the government as part of the disaster relief. This is baseless," it said.
The CM said the memorandum was prepared as part of the assessment of response and relief measures as per the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) norms. However, this is being wrongly reported, he added. The chief minister claimed it was an attempt to torpedo the state government's efforts to secure assistance from the central government.
"The government had submitted the memorandum containing the expected and additional expenses before the High Court. Now, attempts are made using that document to attack the state government falsely. This is against the state's interest," Vijayan said. He urged the media to rectify the "false report".
